Ah, the PS1. The original PlayStation console. The system that started it all. Released in 1994 in Japan, and then heading West in 1995, the PS1 is widely regarded as one of the most important — and successful — consoles of all time, shaping the industry that we know today.
But as is the case with any truly great gaming machine, it was the games themselves that cemented the PS1's long-standing legacy. The system's library is both colossal and era-defining; so much of its software planted the seeds of gameplay mechanics, structures, and concepts that still exist decades later.
If you asked a room full of people to name the most iconic PS1 titles, you'd get a lot of different answers. The likes of Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Spyro the Dragon, and Resident Evil may immediately come to mind, but there really is a huge selection of games that are considered bona fide classics.
And this is why we need your help. We're building a list of the very best PS1 games — all ranked and rated — and we're asking you to score your favourites in this poll.
Below, you'll find a catalogue of every PS1 game in our database, and you can use the search function to find specific titles. Dish out some ratings, and you'll contribute to the aforementioned list — which will be entirely based on user scores.
So without further ado, let's decide on the best PS1 games...
Comments 74
Resident Evil 2 is the best, that is all 😆
Also a shout out for Die Hard Trilogy, I loved playing those 3 games back then
FFIX, FFVII, Legend of Mana, Castlevania SOTN, MGS1, Legend of Legaia, Armored Core, Resident Evil 2, Einhander, Megaman X4 and X5, Bloody Roar, MVC1, Tekken 3, Rival Schools, Suikoden 2, Valkyrie Profile, Soul Reaver, Wild ARMs, Rampage Universal Tour, Crash Bandicoot 3, Ape Escape, Silent Hill, Metal Slug X
I could go on. The PS1 just have such an amazing library of games. Good times.
Einhander best shmup ever
This is an impossible question. So many great memories and so many new experiences that the era of Saturn and Playstation ushered in.
Because it far too hard to pick a game purely for its excellence at the time, I have to go with the first two games I ever bought on this console which demonstrated in different ways the massive impact Sony was going to have on the games industry; Wipeout and Tekken.
Wipeout because firstly it's an excellent game played at breakneck speeds. It did something never done before, made gaming cool in the mainstream to a non-gaming audience thanks to Sony's genius move bringing it to the club culture with its soundtrack.
Tekken because it was a technical and visual showpiece that never failed to impress mates who'd come round to see what the fuss was about my new console.
Was a massive fan of Wipeout at the start of the generation… and also Lara Croft: Tomb Raider but I was 17 at the time and kinda lost touch with gaming for a spell. I missed out on many great games from that era, that’s for sure.
So many fantastic games, if I think back, MGS stood out. I probably forget a few other amazing games.
Slightly cliche, but it's just Metal Gear Solid.
Great fun going through the list though. Many memories, long since accessed.
Castlevania Symphony of the Night is hands down the greatest PS1 game of all time in my book.
I bought it on PS1 (sold it sadly), PS3 (via PS Store), Xbox 360 (despite being a stripped down version), and PS4. I also have it via emulation on PC.
It's my absolute "go to" comfort game.
Metal Gear Solid.
Man, PS1 is one giant gold mine!
WipEout 2097 is the greatest videogame ever made, so that.
My short list:
Honorable Mentions:
I’d like to report an issue. The rating slider for Metal Gear Solid only goes to 10, not 11. This is clearly an oversight that needs fixing.
Syphon filter.parasite eve.pac man world.medievil.mission impossible.tenchu.etc.word up son
Broken sword 1 & 2 20/20 😁
I actually skipped PS1, going from a Sega Mega Drive straight to PC in 2000, and never looked at another console for about 6-7 years.
The only game that I played on a PS1 (through alternative means) was Mortal Kombat Trilogy . Really liked the series back then - and the PS1 version of Trilogy was the only one you could play at home instead of the arcades (there was a PC version but it had a ton of install problems).
I bought my first PS console in 2006-2007 - a PS2 Slim - specifically to play God Of War 1 and 2 - after seeing a few Youtube videos of them that left me positively stunned.
As a kid I was fascinated with the greek mythos, read the 2 books I had on the subject about 15 times each.
So years later, to see even a small bit of those legends in a couple of games, and very well designed ones at that (for those times) - was like a wish come true - I simply had to have them.
That was my first PS console, and I've had one of each generation ever since (heh actually, I still have the phat PS3, the PS4 Pro, on top of the OG disk PS5 ^__^ )
So I'll be waiting for the PS2 version of this poll if there's gonna be one - from there on in I'm gonna have more titles to vote on.
Cheers!
EDIT: Bonkers, i almost forgot. I want to give props to one severely overlooked and underrated game of the PS1 era:
In The Hunt
A very good scrolling shooter game that looks like Metal Slug with submarines, that even has a coop mode.
I highly recommend to anyone to give it try at least once.
Heart of Darkness and FF7!
Power Rangers: Time Force! Admittedly it’s the only one I have currently. But I have enjoyed playing FFVII and FFIX with my brother. Personally, I’m looking forward to trying Parasite Eve…
Sony making a console!? What do they know about the games industry! I’ll stick with good old sega . . . I could only afford one super console and I almost bought a sega Saturn but as I was saving my pocket money and as the months went on it dawned on me that the Sony PlayStation was a safer bet and would probably be the best choice.
Off the top of my head I was blown away by the following
Ridge racer (all of them)
Wipeout (all of them)
Tekken 1&2
Crash Bandicoot (all of them)
Blood omen
Loaded
Street fighter alpha series
Resident evil 2
GTA
Gran turismo
MGS
Coolboarders
Twisted metal 2
Destruction derby
Tomb raider 1&2
Soul calibre
Tony hawk 1-4
Final fantasy 7
At the time it was like nothing I’d ever played before. Electricity in the air bringing home those black disks for the first time
Easiest answer ever - Ridge Racer. They was such a generational leap it was mind blowing. I was 16 at the time and just started my apprenticeship so had a bit of cash and preordered it from dixons with ridge racer & tekken but they had ridge racer playing on a loop in their window for about a month before launch and I'd just stand at the window mesmerised by the arcade like graphics. Last time I've felt that in gaming unfortunately
Why not just make a poll? I'm not going through all that
My choice:
Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Remix
Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix
Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix
Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix
Dance Dance Revolution EXTRA Mix
Dance Dance Revolution Disney Rave
Bishi Bashi games
The Boxing
The Kick boxing
Punky Skunk
Pepsiman
Croc
Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy 9
Chocobo Racing
Chocobo Dungeon 2
K-1 games
Tail Concerto
Monster Rancher 2
Pocket Fighter
X-Men vs Street Fighter
Street Fighter Alpha games
Psx is my personal favorite generation. The creativity, quality and quantity was off the charts. We shall never see its like again.
So many good games. Some early games like Pandemonium! Blew my mind in the 90s. Tekken 1-3, Resi 1-3. Spyro, crash, croc, ISS pro, FIFA 98, ridge Racer 1 and type 4. MGS. Soul reaver. Loaded. Ape escape.
There was even a good bugs bunny game that I forget the name of.
Pure nostalgia PS1
Small Soldiers and Poy Poy 4 lyf! 🤘🏻
@Deljo I played ridge racer so much. Seems crazy in hindsight, so little content compared to modern racers yet it's prob my most played racing game.
Castlevania Symphony of the Night is a game I still go back to regularly to this day.
Fun trip down memory lane. 😃
Played a fair bit these games. But it's hard to remember exactly how I felt about them at the time. The highlights and lowpoints are easy enough, but rating mid games is almost impossible. So I abstained from rating games I don't clearly remember.
What a great library the PS1 had.
Oh PS1, my first love! Loved Koudelka, wanna see it spruced up n re-released. Legend of Dragoon/Legaia/Kartia all great. Vagrant Story awesome. I'll admit I did squee when I saw Xena come up. Now THAT would be a fun re-release
This list of games takes me back.
Starting just before the PS1 hit the UK was my personal golden era of gaming - it started with the SNES, then the PS1 and the N64. I wouldn't have went for a PS1 but the sheer volume of games - it blew my mind. It had something for everyone. I didn't really stop playing these 3 consoles until well into the noughties.
My personal favourites would be RE1 and MGS. My best friend and I played MGS through so many times... Good memories.
Also enjoyed playing micro machines multiplayer, sharing a controller. And Red Alert, linking 2 PlayStations, 2 copies of the games and 2 tvs. Played X-Com for the first time on PS1 and needed to buy a new save card for it because it took up so much space.
Good Times!
Ignoring the obvious ones. Shout out to bugs bunny lost in time and sheep dog 'n' wolf
Spider-Man was always the one i loved most as a child, would kill for a PS5 port.
My first ps1 games were Powerslave and Tomb Raider (1996). I had a good paying job so I purchased both that evening.
Vandal hearts
Agreed, Vandal Hearts is an easy 10. Would snap that up if Konami re-released it on PS5. Such a brilliant game.
PS1 remains my favourite console, so many brilliant classics.
I have some really fond memories, mostly thanks to
1. Tomba/Tombi
2. Cardinal Syn (I see no one ever talking about this)
and
3. Xena: Warrior Princess (a mediocre game, yet a dream come true)
So many blasts from the pasts, no wonder I came out absolutely loving JRPG’s:
Also, anyone that gives Bubsy 3D more than 1 is a menace to society and should be removed from this site immediately
I never had that many games on the PS1, it introduced me to Final Fantasy (7), which introduced me to Suikoden. I did love Legacy of Kain too (the Zelda like unlocking based on items). I remember keeping it in a draw when I moved into my girlfriends place and playing it on a 12” TV in the bedroom
V-Rally 2 (liked it way more than CMR) and the PS1 version felt much better
Syphon Filter 1 > 3 > 2
Tenchu 1
Silent Hill
RE 1-3
Tekken 3
Amazing console.
Ninja shadow of darkness
It's a human rights violation to ask about this!!!!
1. Twisted Metal 2
2. CTR
3. Fighting Force
4. Twisted Metal 4
5. Crash 3
I rated the games that I played on it fairly and i tried to do so without nostalgia. As I discovered recently with the MGS Master Collection, a lot of these games are best left in my memories.
Metal Gear Solid
Resident Evil
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Silent Hill
I wonder how many people voted for Apocalypse. I wonder if it was any good or if my brain just remembers it being good cause it’s all I played as a child????
I am in an extreme minority that went from SEGA Mega Drive to N64 and never had any interest in SNES or PS1. I didn't become a PlayStation fan until the PS4
BUST A GROOVE! Damn I love that game
Metal gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil 1 + 2, Pro Evolution, International Superstar Soccer Pro......... The memories
Hootets Road Trip is no.1 for me
Resident Evil 2, Spyro the dragon, Silent Hill
My all-time faves:
FF7
MGS
SUIKODEN 1 AND 2
SOTN
FF8
FF9
WILD ARMS
TEKKEN 3
RESIDENT EVIL 1&2
CRASH 1-3
TONY HAWK 1&2
Crash Team Racing was so popular in PlayStation cafes when I was a kid in Egypt. I played the hell out of it with Pepsi Man and Tekken 2.
I'm much to lazy to try and remember all the games and then go to each individual entry but a Shout Out to Tomb Raider 1, Resident Evil 2, Vigilante 8, DOOM, Super Puzzle Fighter, Croc, Dino Crisis 2, Exhumed/Power Slave, FFVII, Destruction Derby 2, International Superstar Soccer Pro, FIFA France 98 and the tech demon with the T-Rex 🦖 🤣
FF7, Suikoden 1+2, Alundra top most for me.
FF7 became the game I played when I was ill at my grandparents. Suikoden was a random pick up at gamestation during my initial gorging on any rpg I could get my filthy mitts on. Watched a friend play alundra and loved every minute.
Such a unique wonderful time in gaming history. Gotta say FFIX and MGS would be my top with a special mention of Croc 2. Swapmeet Pete was my mutha f***in boi and them gobos are some of the realist mafks in all of gaming
@Anti-Matter I remember pocket station as a kid. I also played Evil Zone, if you like fighters it's one to definitely try out.
I'd like to report a search issue.
Speed Punks / Speed Freaks doesn't show up.
...
For me at the time it was all about platformers. Croc, crash trilogy, spyro trilogy, gex trilogy, tomba, Abe's oddworld, those were definitely my favourites. I was very young but my dad took it to work at some guy there made it so it can just read burnt discs and I had every ***** game you can think of. I played a lot of them, still do, but the ones mentioned above will always be my favourites
@Jrs1
I love a shmup, but this one passed me by. Just watched it play on YouTube. Looks great. Hopefully It'll get on the ps5 one day.
Spyro/GT sure but I like PSP having found many puzzle games I like on it. Kula World/Devil Dice I think are more the PS1 games I discovered later I think are cool.
Re-loaded is ok, Tunnel B1 is ok. Hydro Thunder is ok.
Only explored bits of it's library so not a lot to go on.
Mr Domino maybe...
Evo's Space Adventure/Space Station Silicon Valley is ok but not a great PS1 port. Glover same thing, great game not a great PS1 port.
Croc is good. Gex is good. Jumping Flash is good. 40 Winks is fair. A few others.
I need to dig deeper into the library. Good era besides new to 3D and games going either way to transition at the time but even still I enjoy the experimental nature of them, regardless of controls and more better era then 9th gen.
Since its such a huge catalog that everyone already knows the greats; FF, Tekken, MGS, Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo, Resident Evil etc. I just wanted to give some love to NFL Blitz 2000 which was so much fun. Especially since no one probably remembers it.
Resident Evil 2, Final Fantasy IX, Silent Hill, Koudelka, Klonoa, Final Fantasy VII, Atelier Elie, Mega Man Legends 1,2, & the Misadventures of Tron Bonne.
Seeing the shout outs to Vagrant Story in the comments makes me once again ask why the hell have they not dropped a remaster for it yet. It was such an incredible game and was one earlier games (in my memory) to have new game with whole extra areas full of new loot and tougher fights.
Such a great game that at a minimum deserves a hi res remaster for modern screens.
Although I am a RPG fan first and foremost, and not even a racing fan in general, Gran Turismo 2 is the PS1 game that really made the biggest impact on me. I was a teenager who was really interested in cool cars in the late 90s, working a job that saw me pushing shopping carts into the supermarket, and seeing these Gran Turismo cars in real life. GT1 was awesome, but GT2 was next-level and it had so many more cars. It was so much fun to play with my friends after school or work.
I went from SNES to a PS2 in 2002, the PS1 games I played are few. RE-2 Directors Cut, RE-3, and Dino Crisis 2 are my favorites of the few I played. All 3 I played multiple times with Dino Crisis 2 maybe 15 or 20 plays. I purchased a Game Shark for PS1 just for codes for Dino Crisis 2.
@UnlimitedSevens I'll see your Parappa the Rapper and raise you an Um Jammer Lammy
Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style!
Only game I ever owned on PS1. I was a huge Nintendo fanboy back then but also a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan (still am). When the game released on PS1 only, I had to have it so I bought the console. Game sucked but I loved it.
@gingerfrog Would be great to see it on ps5 with trophies, think its squaresoft that own it.
Shameful omissions i completely forgot
Porsche Challenge
Pepsiman
Devil Dice (plleeeeeasse)
Never owned a PS1 but plenty of my friends did so I still got to play most of the big games and got caught up on the ones I missed after I purchased a PS2. My favorite will always be Resident Evil 2 but Twisted Metal 1-2, Destruction Derby, Metal Gear Solid, RE 1, Tekken 1-3, Driver, Silent Hill and, of course, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are just a few of the many that deserve mention.
@Andee
Oh dang, how could I miss Um Jammy Lammy. There really are too many good games on that system.
@UnlimitedSevens It's ace isn't it? The guitar just sounds so more organic and less fragmented than Parappa's Rapping
Btw, I just yesterday nabbed one of those 8BitDo Wireless Receivers — highly recommend them to anyone that feels like firing up the PS1/PS2 — my DualShock controllers have seen better days (the ones that are still working anyway), and this thing is an absolute godsend.
@Andee
Right on! Yeah I picked up two of those 8bitdo receivers (plugged into my PS1 right now). Game changers for sure - good rec 👍
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